“Chen Chi-lu was a pioneer in Taiwan’s cultural establishment,” MOC Minister Lung Ying-tai said. “If it were not his foresight in setting up a specialized agency at central government level, there would be no Ministry of Culture today.”
Born in 1923 in Jiangjun, Tainan City, during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945), Chen moved with his parents to China before leaving for Japan to attend Tokyo First Senior High School. After returning to China, he studied political science and economics at St. John’s University in Shanghai and received his bachelor’s degree in 1948.
The same year, he came back to Taiwan and worked as the editor of the international section at the Public Opinion Daily. Through his work, Chen came in contact with renowned Japanese anthropologists such as Kanaseki Takeo and Kokubu Naoichi. He soon developed a passion for the science and decided to study anthropology at the University of New Mexico in 1951. Three years later, he returned to his homeland and started teaching anthropology at National Taiwan University.
After receiving a doctorate in sociology from Japan’s Tokyo University in 1966, Chen carried on with his work in anthropology as a professor at NTU. A decade later, he became an academician of Academia Sinica, the highest research institute in the country.
Named the first head of the Council for Cultural Affairs in 1981, Chen helped preserve traditional architecture, proposed establishing folk art parks and hosted fine art exhibitions during his seven-year term.
But it was the Customs of Taiwan columns penned by Chen during his time with Public Opinion Daily he considered his most valuable work. Chen eventually published his four-volume magnum opus “Customs of Taiwan” in December 2013.
Liu Yi-chang, a researcher of history and language at Academia Sinica, said Chen’s book on Taiwan’s customs gathered together the anthropological expertise of scholars from Taiwan, Japan and mainland China to build a complete knowledge system of post-1945 Taiwan.
Although Chen’s legacy will long live on through his contribution to anthropology, works like “Presidential Hall,” a calligraphy piece carved over the entrance to the Presidential Office, will ensure he is never forgotten by those unfamiliar with the science.
In addition, under the terms of Chen’s will, most of his works in anthropology, sketches of indigenous people and calligraphy pieces will be donated to Academia Sinica, National Taiwan Museum and National History Museum, respectively. (SSC-JSM)
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